Rally protesting against Communists backing government

ČTK |

28 June 2018

Brno, June 27 (CTK) - A crowd of about 500 attended a rally commemorating the victims of the Communist regime and protested against the Communists' (KSCM) rising share in power in the Czech Republic at the main square in Brno on Wednesday.

President Milos Zeman appointed a minority government of Prime Minister Andrej Babis's ANO and the Social Democrats (CSSD) which must rely on Communist support in the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday.

The protesters said this had cancelled a post-Communist taboo.

"The Pandora's box is opened," musician Michael Kocab, one of the protagonists of the ousting of the Communist regime in 1989, said.

"It was a big mistake that the Communist party was not outlawed in 1989," Zdena Masinova, the sister of the Masin brothers, anti-Communist resistance fighters from the early 1950s, said.

She said she feared for the next generations who may have to face further difficult trials.

The event called We Disagree with Communists' Return to Power was called by the group Jointly in Brno.

Before the rally started, the names of the people killed under the Communist regime were read from loudspeakers.

Some banners expressed disagreement with Babis's government and there were also the red boxer shorts, a symbol of opposition to Zeman.

"Either Communism or truth," one of the banners said.

The crowd was addressed by various party leaders. "Communism is trash," Petr Kunc (TOP 09) said.

"I did not think we will ever have to meet at the squares to fight against Communism, but still we are standing here today," Marketa Vankova, from the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), said.

"We must not let them return," Petr Hladik, a deputy mayor for the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL), said.

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